We focused on four types of athletes—cyclists, weightlifters, swimmers and high jumpers—to imagine just how different ‘faster, stronger, higher,’ could look.

If the Olympic Games teach us one thing every two years, it’s that even at the pinnacle of athletic achievement, human bodies are imperfect sporting machines.

They’re inefficient. They’re awkward. They break down. There’s only so far a swimmer’s shoulder will allow them to reach, only so high a gymnast’s leg muscles will help them leap.

Evolution carved out homo sapiens for survival: to be hunters and gatherers, parents and omnivores, complex thinkers and users of tools. It was not about winning the 50-meter butterfly. So as the finest physical specimens on earth prepare to do their best with the bodies they have, The Wall Street Journal wondered: What if 60,000 years of human evolution had gone another way?

If survival instead depended on being able to perform a tidy clean-and-jerk or execute a pommel horse dismount, humans would be built differently. We asked evolutionary and biomechanical experts to figure out which traits our Olympics-optimized humanoids would need to sweep every gold medal.

Swimmer

Humans are nowhere near the most efficient mammals in the water, but the particular arrangement of their limbs— two highly mobile arms and powerful legs— does make up for some of their shortcomings. To be truly optimized, however, those limbs would have needed to evolve to much larger dimensions.

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Average

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Wingspan

Hairless

The upper limbs are responsible for 88% of a swimmer's total thrust. That percentage increases with longer, more powerful arms.

Swimmers already try to reduce drag by shaving their bodies, but the optimal humans would be hairless to begin with.

Thermoregulation

Retaining more heat to maintain a higher body temperature, especially in the cold of open-water events like the triathlon swim,helps swimmers keep their muscles functioning at maximum efficiency.

Propelling efficiency

Longer hands and feet, combined with supple wrists and ankles, create a flipper effect to generate constant, steady propulsion. To see a significant difference, they would have to be 20% to 30% larger than the average human's.

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Tighter skin

Any looseness on the surface of the body is capable of creating drag. Tighter skin creates a smoother glide through the water.

Shoulders

Hands

Breath

Moving between water and air decreases efficiency, so swimmers are better off gliding underwater for as long as possible, away from the disturbances on the surface. The limiting factor, however, is the need for animals to breathe air. Unless, of course, they have gills.

Repetitive overhead activities such as swimming can lead to shoulder impingement syndrome, where the rotator cuff tendon gets trapped under a section of the shoulder blade called the acromion. A human that evolved for swimming would lack that section altogether, fully liberating the shoulder for overhead movement.

Bigger hands obviously give swimmers the ability to move more water, but for the larger hands to maximize their efficiency, they would have a thin membrane between the fingers.

Surface

80 cm deep

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Shoulder

Repetitive overhead activities such as swimming can lead to shoulder impingement syndrome, where the rotator cuff tendon gets trapped under a section of the shoulder blade called the acromion. A human that evolved for swimming would lack that section altogether, fully liberating the shoulder for overhead movement.

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Hands

Bigger hands obviously give swimmers the ability to move more water, but for the larger hands to maximize their efficiency, they would have a thin membrane between the fingers.

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Breath

Moving between water and air decreases efficiency, so swimmers are better off gliding underwater for as long as possible, away from the disturbances on the surface. The limiting factor, however, is the need for animals to breathe air. Unless, of course, they have gills

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Wingspan

The upper limbs are responsible for 88% of a swimmer's total thrust. That percentage increases with longer, more powerful arms.

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Thermoregulation

Retaining more heat to maintain a higher body temperature, especially in the cold of open-water events like the triathlon swim, helps swimmers keep their muscles functioning at maximum efficiency.

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Hairlessness

Swimmers already try to reduce drag by shaving their bodies, but the optimal humans would be hairless to begin with.

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Propelling Efficiency

Longer hands and feet, combined with supple wrists and ankles, create a flipper effect to generate constant, steady propulsion. To see a significant difference, they would have to be 20% to 30% larger than the average human's.

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Tighter Skin

Any looseness on the surface of the body is capable of creating drag. Tighter skin creates a smoother glide through the water.

Cyclist

For cyclists, weight and elevation are the enemy. The ideal cyclist is light, but strong and aerodynamic, yet thin. It starts, literally, at the top with a helmet-shaped head and a constricted upper body. The lower body stays big enough to be lean and strong, yet contained in the same thin frame that is similar to the bicycle they ride. Enlarged lungs and hearts provide him or her with the most essential tool: endurance.

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Small

helmet-shaped head

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Heart and lungs

Cyclist

For cyclists, weight and elevation are the enemy. The ideal cyclist is light but strong and aerodynamic, yet thin. It starts, literally, at the top with a helmet-shaped head and a constricted upper body. The lower body stays big enough to be lean and strong, yet contained in the same thin frame that is similar to the bicycle they ride. Enlarged lungs and hearts provide the most essential tool: endurance.

Small helmet-shaped head

Always wear your helmet. Or in the case of the perfect cyclist, have your head become one for the sake of speed and aerodynamics.

Heart and lungs

A regular human’s heart takes up 0.5 percent of the body's weight. The perfect cyclist, however, would need its heart to double in size and take up 1 percent of their already low body weight. Bigger heart, more room for more oxygen.

Cyclist

For cyclists, weight and elevation are the enemy. The ideal cyclist is light but strong and aerodynamic, yet thin. It starts, literally, at the top with a helmet-shaped head and a constricted upper body. The lower body stays big enough to be lean and strong, yet contained in the same thin frame that is similar to the bicycle they ride. Enlarged lungs and hearts provide the most essential tool: endurance.

Small helmet-shaped head

Always wear your helmet. Or in the case of the perfect cyclist, have your head become one for the sake of speed and aerodynamics.

Heart and lungs

A regular human’s heart takes up 0.5 percent of the body's weight. The perfect cyclist, however, would need its heart to double in size and take up 1 percent of their already low body weight. Bigger heart, more room for more oxygen.

Cyclist

For cyclists, weight and elevation are the enemy. The ideal cyclist is light but strong and aerodynamic, yet thin. It starts, literally, at the top with a helmet-shaped head and a constricted upper body. The lower body stays big enough to be lean and strong, yet contained in the same thin frame that is similar to the bicycle they ride. Enlarged lungs and hearts provide the most essential tool: endurance.

Small helmet-shaped head

Always wear your helmet. Or in the case of the perfect cyclist, have your head become one for the sake of speed and aerodynamics.

Heart and lungs

A regular human’s heart takes up 0.5 percent of the body's weight. The perfect cyclist, however, would need its heart to double in size and take up 1 percent of their already low body weight. Bigger heart, more room for more oxygen.

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Small Helmet-Shaped Head

Always wear your helmet. And having a head shaped like a helmet helps speed and aerodynamics.

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Heart and Lungs

A regular human heart takes up to 0.5% of the body's weight. The perfect cyclist would need its heart to double in size and take up 1% of their already low body weight. Bigger heart, and lungs means more room for more oxygen.

Weightlifter

Brute strength and giant muscles are a necessary trait for any Olympic weightlifter, but the length and proportionality of arms matter as well. With widened shoulders and forward-facing, protruding kneecaps, the ideal weightlifter is not just strong, but thick and wide. Shorter, wider limbs mean power, but more importantly, better leverage and ability to get under the bar during the lift.

Bicep tendon

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Forearms

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weightlifter

Brute strength and giant muscles are a necessary trait for any Olympic weightlifter, but the length and proportionality of arms matter as well. With widened shoulders and forward-facing, protruding kneecaps, the ideal weightlifter is not just strong, but thicker and wider than any other human being.

Bicep tendon

The further the bicep tendon of a weightlifter extends along the forearm, the better the mechanical rotations will be.

Forearms and calves

Weightlifters need shorter, thicker forearms and legs that are as close to the ground as possible. Width rather than length allows them to lift the weight a shorter distance, increasing their biomechanical advantage.

Weightlifter

Brute strength and giant muscles are a necessary trait for any Olympic weightlifter, but the length and proportionality of arms matter as well.

With widened shoulders and forward-facing, protruding kneecaps, the

ideal weightlifter is not just strong, but thicker and wider than any other human being.

Bicep tendon

Forearms and calves

The further the bicep tendon of a weightlifter extends along the forearm, the better the mechanical rotations will be.

Weightlifters need shorter, thicker forearms and legs that are as close to the ground as possible. Width rather than length allows them to lift the weight a shorter distance, increasing their biomechanical advantage.

Weightlifter

Brute strength and giant muscles are a necessary trait for any Olympic weightlifter, but the length and proportionality of arms matter as well.

With widened shoulders and forward-facing, protruding kneecaps, the

ideal weightlifter is not just strong, but thicker and wider than any other human being.

Bicep tendon

The further the bicep tendon of a weightlifter extends along the forearm, the better the mechanical rotations will be.

Forearms and calves

Weightlifters need shorter, thicker forearms and legs that are as close to the ground as possible. Width rather than length allows them to lift the weight a shorter distance, increasing their biomechanical advantage.

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Forearms and Calves

Weightlifters are favored if they have shorter, thicker forearms and legs that are as close to the ground as possible. Width rather than length allows them to lift the weight a reduced distance,increasing their biomechanical advantage.

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Bicep Tendon

The further the bicep tendon of a weightlifter extends along the forearm, the further it is from the elbow axis of rotation, making the mechanical lifting motion slow, but incredibly strong.

High Jumper

For high jumpers, clearing the bar takes a high center of gravity. It begins with a short, exceedingly skinny body and long, lanky legs. With shoulders as close to the hips as possible, the small torso and lower body are connected by an unassuming posterior.

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Light,

hollowed-out bones

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Flat butt

High Jumper

For high jumpers, clearing the bar takes a high center of gravity. It begins with a short, exceedingly skinny upper body and long, lanky legs. With shoulders as close to the hips as possible, the small torso and lower body are connected by an unassuming posterior.

Light, hollowed-out bones

The high jump is as close to flying as humans may get. And so, light, hollowed out bones would be the perfect way to re duce weight and increase time in the air during the jump.

Flat butt

At the Olympic level, an inch may be the difference between a medal and returning home empty-handed. And if that inch comes at the expense of the gluteus maximus, then so be it.

High Jumper

For high jumpers, clearing the bar takes a high center of gravity. It begins with a short, exceedingly skinny upper body and long, lanky legs. With shoulders as close to the hips as possible, the small torso and lower body are connected by an unassuming posterior.

Light, hollowed-out bones

The high jump is as close to flying as humans may get. And so, light, hollowed out bones would be the perfect way to reduce weight and increase time in the air during the jump.

Flat butt

At the Olympic level, an inch may be the difference between a medal and returning home empty-handed. And if that inch comes at the expense of the gluteus maximus, then so be it.

High Jumper

For high jumpers, clearing the bar takes a high center of gravity. It begins with a short, exceedingly skinny upper body and long, lanky legs. With shoulders as close to the hips as possible, the small torso and lower body are connected by an unassuming posterior.

Light, hollowed-out bones

The high jump is as close to flying as humans may get. And so, light, hollowed out bones would be the perfect way to reduce weight and increase time in the air during the jump.

Flat butt

At the Olympic level, an inch may be the difference between a medal and returning home empty-handed. And if that inch comes at the expense of the gluteus maximus, then so be it.

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Light, Hollowed-out Bones

The high jump is as close to flying as humans may get. Light, hollowed-out bones are ideal for reducing weight and increasing hang time.

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Flat Butt

At the Olympic level, an inch may be the difference between a medal and an empty-handed trip home. And if that inch comes at the expense of the gluteus maximus, then so be it.

Methodology:

Their alternate evolutionary timelines didn’t factor in the practicalities of daily life, like taking a commercial flight or getting a date. They are cartoon versions of 22-time Olympic gold medalist Michael Phelps, with his enormous hands and feet; or all-world sprinter Usain Bolt, whose lightning strides are helped by his six-foot-five frame.